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This week has been a different one to all my other experiences in Oz and all the other climates so far – after all, the desert, especially right in the middle where I was, is vastly different from the coast. The Red Centre, part of the huge Northern Territory, is semi-arid desert – so it does rain occasionally, but not much. The air is super dry, so that I never needed to use a hand dryer or towel after washing my hands – they would dry in a few seconds on their own. It gets blisteringly hot during the day and cooler, sometimes quite chilly, at night. The ground is all red dust, but amazingly has some bushes and trees growing in it – and this is because the underground water table is shallow enough that roots can reach it.

I did a three-day, two-night tour with a van of 23 other people and a guide, and we saw the three major attractions in the area: Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and Kings Canyon. In between a lot of hiking and driving, we camped and made our own meals. It was a tiring few days, but I saw a lot of beautiful spots.

On Sunday, I woke up at 5am to catch the van at 6am – there were five of us riding down to Uluru with our guide from the town of Alice Springs, the bigger town that I flew into. Not long into the drive, we stopped at a camel farm and rode camels! I was worried they would be unhappy and not want to be ridden (like an experience I had in Greece riding a donkey that kept getting whipped and kicked when it was exhausted), but actually, they didn’t seem to mind it. Maybe because it was first thing in the morning, but the camel wrangler (who was from California and had been working there a couple months) said that the one I rode liked working the most. His name was Markie, and he would bite at you if you tried to pet him, but he was very affectionate with his camel guy. So adorable. It wasn’t a very long ride, but we did trot at one point, which was fun. Ever pictured a camel trotting?! They basically seem like horses with humps. There was also a pet dingo at the farm, which I loved – he was super sweet and tame, with soft fur and liked getting belly rubs, so of course I obliged. There were also a bunch of emus there.

We then drove the whole rest of the morning before we got to the Uluru airport to pick up the other people on the tour. We had lunch, and that evening, we went for a walk around Uluru. Now, if you’ve never heard of Uluru, it’s basically a really really big red rock in the middle of a mostly flat desert. It’s kind of an icon of Australia – you may have seen pictures of it, though it’s not as famous as the Sydney Opera House or the kangaroo. And I’ve heard a lot of people say Uluru was really cool and amazing to see, but it is one of those things you can’t be sure about until you actually see it in person. But yeah, I was impressed. It’s the most beautiful reddish color, just overwhelmingly big from far away (1,142 ft tall and 5.8 miles around), but once you get closer, you can see all these rippling, smooth curves and textures, and it changes as you go around it. Definitely a sight to see. But, it was pretty hot in the sun that afternoon, and the view doesn’t change very quickly as you’re walking around it, so it wasn’t all thrills. Also, there were a ton of flies that in the dry heat are drawn to any moisture they can find, and that includes your eyes, nose, mouth, and any sweat they can find on your self. A hostel roommate in Perth had warned me about this, so I bought a fly net that goes over your face and wore that for the hike. I looked ridiculous, of course (and for this reason many people didn’t wear one) but I would rather look ridiculous than have flies up my nose any day.

One of the cool things about Uluru is that it’s sacred to the local indigenous people, the Anangu. They ask that you don’t take pictures in certain spots near the rock and that you don’t climb it. Of course people will still take pictures wherever (our group was careful about this, though), but the most upsetting thing to me is that people still climb the rock, disrespecting the Anangu’s wishes. This is still allowed because the Australian National Parks Service leased it from their people in the 80s for 99 years, and part of the agreement was that people would still be allowed to climb it. So we saw a railing on one slope of the rock, and dozens of people walking up it. But it just seems wrong and disrespectful! I’m sure they leased it because they need the money. There are signs everywhere asking people to not climb it. I guess some people just don’t care – sad!

That evening, we watched the sunset at Uluru, along with champagne, crackers, and dips. I don’t really like champagne due to the carbonation, but it was free and I was kind of peer pressured into it, so I just got half a glass and waited until it went a little flat and gulped it down. Celebration!! The sunset itself was beautiful, but we were at that particular spot because it lit up the big rock in an extra brilliant red. Really a great evening.

That night, I slept outside for the first time in something called a swag. In the States, I think they’re called bed rolls, but they don’t seem very common because Americans are freaked out by bugs, so I’d never even heard of this way of camping without a tent. Aussies and Kiwis use swags all the time, unfazed by creepy crawlies apparently. They are basically a protective bag that you put your sleeping bag into and sleep inside, and you can put a flap over your face, too. You zip it up and nothing can get in, it’s very warm, and you stay dry if it rains. There’s a bit of a cushioned mat to sleep on, too – but you’re still sleeping pretty directly on the ground, so it’s not the most comfortable thing ever. The moon was out and pretty bright, so we could only see the brightest stars, but it was still pretty cool. I heard groups of dingoes howling at each other from distances, sounding like wolves, and bats making little beep-clicking noises overhead, echo-locating their way across the night sky. I did sleep most of the night, but because of the uncomfortableness and weird noises and general unusual sleeping situation, though, I woke up a lot.

The next morning, we got up at 5am (again) to see the sunrise at Uluru. This time, it was from a distance, but you could see far across the flat desert to the familiar rock silhouette. There were a few clouds in the sky, creating beautiful, colorful patterns that kept changing as the sun got closer to the horizon and then peeked over it. It was actually very chilly in the morning, I would guess maybe 50-55 F, and I had no warmer clothes than shorts and a t-shirt, but I didn’t think about it when I was gazing at the sunset.

We then hiked Kata Djuta nearby, a series of big red rocks with a place called Valley of the Winds in the middle. So beautiful! This was a hike that varied a lot more than Uluru – lots of different shapes of the rocks, and when you got to the top of this big hill in the valley, it was a breathtaking view. Unlike Uluru, we weren’t asked to not climb anything or not take photos, so we climbed and photographed to our heart’s content, and it was beautiful. We then stopped a final time at Uluru and walked on the other side of the rock, where we hadn’t been the previous day, to see the watering hole. It’s pretty surprising that there’s a permanent pool of water there in the desert, but it’s not very big, and it’s sustained by the bit of rain they get that flows from the rock down, as well as the water tables underneath the ground.

Uluru’s water hole

Kata Tjuta

View from the top of the Valley of the Winds at Kata Tjuta

That afternoon, we drove down to our second campsite, near Kings Canyon. On the way, I saw a few wild horses trotting along. This was a surreal sight, because they just looked like your average horses, but they were in the desert! And then when we got to our campsite, there were four wild horses grazing casually nearby. It shocked our guide; he said he’d only ever seen one wild horse before, and now he’d just seen a whole bunch. That night, our campfire was pretty, and we roasted marshmallows. Now, this was my second experience roasting marshmallows in Oz, the first one being in Tasmania, and I enjoy watching adults do this for the first time (since everyone else was from Europe or Asia). We had to use actual sticks, no luxurious roasting sticks, and everyone kept getting these short sticks and nearly getting burned trying to roast their marshmallow. I helped them find long sticks and tried to get them to not burn the marshmallows. And I enthusiastically explained how Americans do it better, because we have bigger, yummier marshmallows and chocolate and graham crackers, see, they’re s’mores… It’s a hard concept to explain, but I’m pretty sure I got some converts who want to try s’mores when they’re in the states. Apparently you can only find graham crackers there; they don’t exist in Europe or Australia. Weird. At least I managed to get a s’mores substitute in Tasmania using digestive biscuits (a type of British cookie!)

On the final day, we got up at 5am again, surprise, surprise! So that makes three days and two nights of watching the sun rise and set. I’m pretty sure that’s a first for me. This time, when I was going to roll up my swag (seriously the best name for a bed roll), there was a large, furry, dark gray spider bigger than the palm of your hand crawling across it. Our guide Dale was nearby, so I calmly pointed to it and said, “I think there’s a spider on my swag.” And he got it off for me. I didn’t scream, or jump, or anything. It wasn’t crawling directly on me, but it nearly did – I think it was just so early, I just didn’t have the energy to react at that point. Dale kept commenting that day on how amazing it was that I didn’t scream. He thought it was a wolf spider, which isn’t dangerous to humans, thankfully, though of course they bite (as most things do in Oz). The group was horrified and mesmerized by my story. I’m not sure if it’s good or not that I was the only one who had a large spider encounter.

That morning, went straight to Kings Canyon for our hike, to get most of it completed before we started baking in the dry heat of the midday sun. This was my favorite hike of the trip, and probably one of my favorite hikes ever. Not many flies here, so I didn’t have to wear the dorky fly net, not too hot in the early morning, and a golden light was cast on all the beauty of the canyon. We hiked up “Heart Attack Hill” first, a steep climb to the top of the canyon, but we got stuck behind a big group of kids and weren’t going as fast, so it actually wasn’t too bad. For my fitness level (which at this point is decent since I’ve been doing a fair amount of hiking and other activities the last couple months), it was perfect – a bit challenging at times, but I never really got tired during the 3.5 hour hike. We stopped often to take pictures and absorb the amazing views, which changed around every corner. Textured red rocks, flat, cracked rocks, dramatic cliffs where the canyon dropped off, a little Garden of Eden oasis with ferns and ponds at the bottom of the canyon, the Lost City, which looks like alien huts as far as the eye can see at the top… Just beautiful. A perfect hike. Maybe I should get up early more often! In three days, before 8am each day I managed to ride a camel and pet a dingo, hike a series of big red rocks, and hike to the top of a canyon. Not bad. But getting out of bed is always the hardest part! Oh, and I saw a wild dingo, which was exciting! I’ve now seen most of the famous Aussie animals. Although dingoes aren’t native, of course…

That afternoon, a few of us bid our farewells to the group and rode back up to Alice Springs. There were some cool people on the trip that I’ll probably stay in touch with. I stayed another day in the town, but there’s not a ton to do there so I mostly just chilled and recovered from the outback. And so ends that trip! Today, I arrived once again in the funky, interesting city of Melbourne for a final few days before I catch my flight out.

I say goodbye to Australia in less than three days. It’s been such a crazy and amazing two months (as I arrived in Sydney two months ago today) that it seems like it’s been longer than that, I’ve done so much, but the time has gone quickly at the same time. This was by far the biggest, longest trip I’ve ever taken, and it wasn’t even planned more than a couple weeks ahead at a time.

Spent time in five out of the country’s six states and one of the territories, four of the capital cities, lots of other towns and villages, six distinct climates, and seven different rainforests

Taken planes, trains, buses, trams, cars, boats, and walked many thousands of kilometers

Slept in 18 different places (seriously, I just counted!): hostels, cabins, an apartment, a boat, and outside under the stars

Snorkeled, scuba dove, sailed, surfed, sandboarded, and slept in a swag for the first time (which are all S verbs for some reason)

Met a lot of different people from around the world, especially Europe but also Asia, Africa, and North America – mostly travelers like me, and made a few new friends I know I will meet up with and travel with again someday

Overall, it’s been amazing. I’ve learned that solo travel can be a really social thing, and that sometimes it’s fun to hang out with strangers, and that you can save a lot of money by sacrificing a bit of privacy, but you may gain a bunch of other positive things in that process. I realised that Australia is a direct cross between the UK and US, and that culturally I feel completely comfortable here so that I mostly don’t feel like I’m in a foreign country. I have had a fair amount of awful moments, “ok I’m ready to leave soon” moments when things go wrong (phone screen smashed, my cat having issues back in Indiana, bed bugs, exhaustion and sunburn from surfing, getting stuck with annoying people, heat, difficulty sleeping, etc), but those haven’t lasted long, or I figure out how to adapt or fix the situation, and soon I’m moving on and experiencing some other amazing place.

Next, I’ll be headed to Hawaii for some birthday celebrating before heading to Portland for job and apartment searching. I’m trying not to stress too much until then and enjoy most of my time left on this great adventure!